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Shawn Taylor, 42, of Sterling, Va., is on trial facing multiple counts of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor in Chester County.
Virginia man to assert 'mistake of age' defense in Chesco child sex case
Shawn Taylor, who authorities contend had sex on multiple occasions with a 15-year-old West Bradford girl he had met through a website that allowed people to connect anonymously, believed the person he encountered was above the age of consent, his attorney told Judge Analisa Sondergaard during pre-trial discussions Tuesday.
The panel of 10 men and two women deliberated for about five hours on Friday before returning to Judge Nicole Forzato’s courtroom around 7 p.m. to deliver its verdict. The jurors heard two days of testimony, including from the woman who made the allegations, as well as the defendant and his wife, the woman’s estranged mother.
A 37-year-old woman told a Chester County Common Pleas Court jury that when she was 8 her stepfather forcing her to have oral sex with him on the deck — a pattern that came to be a part of her life for the next seven years, until she turned 15.